Last year we reported the announcement of Ando’s first chair design, marked as a tribute to Hans J. Wegner. This year at the Salone del Mobile, the final product – named the Dream Chair – was revealed at a press conference at the Triennale Design Museum in Milan. We were very delighted to be a part of this milestone event.
This chair was two years in the making with family-owned Danish furniture company Carl Hansen & Son, best known for their chairs by Hans J. Wegner (the Wishbone Chair is a good example). The final product is a beautifully sculpted piece made from a single sheet of plywood stop a plywood base. Although the chair is effortlessly elegant , it required the most advanced techniques to manipulate the plywood to bend and mold to yield to Ando’s design.
Erik Hansen, Carl Hansen’s CEO, noted that the original base was a metal one, but Ando was not satisfied. The folks at Carl Hansen then went back to its experienced artisans and finally found a way to create a base to fulfill Ando’s original vision, which also brought to new manufacturing techniques to complete the piece.
So who will be lounging in this fabulous chair? Ando joked that his designer friends – Giorgio Armani, Issey Miyake, and Tom Ford – have already placed orders. Needless to say, the chairs will be in good company.
As for what is next for Carl Hansen & Son, Erik Hansen teasingly mentioned that the company would love to work with Ando on future collaborative projects. I know just the chair we can sit on to dream of such a future.
Photo credit: DesignsWeLove
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